There is a fantastic opportunity to do some short-term historical research for a local authority for which the job spec and my CV are almost identical!! I'm going to put in a tender but I have to say what my freelance rates would be and I wondered if anyone else had done anything similar and had any ideas what the going rate would be for archive research, translating documents and writing up findings in a non-academic way to inform heritage staff. I have to give hourly/daily rates. Any help would be appreciated. I really want to get this contract and don't want to price myself out of it or indeed not charge enough for my skills.

hmm, I do consultancy research for about £200 a day, but not much, so I only get about 10 days max per year (I work too fast - rubbish!) So I think if I was slower they would probably put my rate down a bit, because they wouldn't want to pay that much out if you know what I mean. I know that if you are an MSc graduate doing the same thing you get about £80 per day if that helps. Definitely not in history though - much more 'businessy' so not sure if you would get less in history because its not so 'alan sugar' if you get what I mean.

Thanks Sneaks, that gives me some idea.

I did some history archival research for one of my professors and got paid the hourly lecturer rate for the university, I was rather lucky I think at about £35-ish an hour ( then take off tax NI etc)
Other freelance work I know of in the history field ( Oral history interviews) pays the lesser rate of £18 per hour plus expenses.
My suggestion would be to see what the particular local authority pay-scale is for sessional lecturers at their FE college - then you know what they are used to paying for brain-power! But if there is translating work too then perhaps push it up into the higher end of that range.
Hope this gives you some ideas.
Best of luck!

Here's a great blog that talks about the various outsourcing sites which you may find ideas about the rates of the field you have mentioned: http://www.timedoctor.com/blog/2011/02/22/the-top-6-outsourcing-sites-and-how-to-use-them

You generally have to bid on projects/jobs that are posted in the sites mentioned in the blog. There's a short review in the blog so you'll have ideas on how the system works of each outsourcing site. You can estimate the rate to how much time you are going to allocate for the project as well as the amount of effort you will be exerting. Of course you also have to be reasonable with your rate too. Your rate must reflect to your quality of work.

Durrr?

hi there! Generally I think the guidelines already offered are very fair, as far as payment rates go. Keep in mind that when freelancing you have to keep in mind taxes and other expenses as well.

Out of curiosity, how do you get your freelance jobs right now? I am part of a group looking at a new way of bringing freelance academics and projects together and we are really actively looking for some feedback. Anyone willing to provide us with some feedback on this topic as well? It's quite relevant and related to the topic of pay rates for freelancers, as we hope to provide some guides here as well.